Julie MacDonald
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Julie M. Allaire-MacDonald, generally known as Julie MacDonald or Julie A. MacDonald (born August 30, 1962), is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the United States Department of the Interior. She was appointed by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2004.
A 1991 graduate of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, MacDonald is civil engineer by training and served at the California Resources Agency before joining the Department of the Interior.[1]
[edit] Controversy
According to an October 2006 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, an nonprofit group that advocates scientific integrity, McDonald "personally reversed scientific findings, changed scientific conclusions to prevent endangered species from receiving protection, removed relevant information from a scientific document, and ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to adopt her edits."[2] Francesca Grifo, who directs the union's scientific integrity program, said MacDonald's actions are "not business as usual but a systemic problem of tampering with science that is putting our environment at risk."[3]
In March 2007, the Interior Department Inspector General, Honorable Earl E. Devaney, reported that MacDonald broke federal rules by giving non-public, internal government documents to oil industry and property rights groups, and manipulated scientific findings to favor Bush policy goals and assist land developers.[4]
Specifically, the report found that
Through interviewing various sources, including FWS employees and senior officials, and reviewing pertinent documents and e-mails, we confirmed that MacDonald has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Program's scientific reports from the field. MacDonald admitted that her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational background in natural sciences, such as biology... MacDonald's conduct violated the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) under 5 C.F.R. 9 2635.703 Use of Nonpublic Information and 5 C.F.R. 5 2635.101 Basic Obligation of Public Service, Appearance of Preferential Treatment.[5]
A 30 March 2007 Washington Post article states
"At one point, according to Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall, MacDonald tangled with field personnel over designating habitat for the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher, a bird whose range is from Arizona to New Mexico and Southern California. When scientists wrote that the bird had a "nesting range" of 2.1 miles, MacDonald told field personnel to change the number to 1.8 miles. Hall, a wildlife biologist who told the IG he had had a "running battle" with MacDonald, said she did not want the range to extend to California because her husband had a family ranch there."[6]
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[edit] References
- ^ "Report Says Interior Official Overrode Work of Scientists", New York Times, March 29, 2007.
- ^ "Systematic Interference with Science at Interior Department Exposed Emails and Edited Documents Show Evidence of Inappropriate Manipulation", Union of Concerned Scientists, October 30, 2006.
- ^ "Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species", Washington Post, October 30, 2006.
- ^ "Report: Interior official blasted for twisting environmental data", USA Today, March 30, 2007.
- ^ "REPORT OF INVESTIGATION: Julie MacDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish, Wildlife and Parks", US Department of the Interior, March 23, 2007.
- ^ "Report Faults Interior Appointee; Landowner Issues Trumped Animal Protections, Inspector General Says", Washington Post, March 30, 2007.
